Brick in the Wall
by The Writing Crow
Summary: Max has trouble getting a girlfriend, or even talking to girls for that matter. Alex feels like helping. *Infrequent Updates*
1. Opener

**Chapter 1**

It was a very hot summer day on June 30th, 2011. Nineteen-year-old Alex Russo was laying on the couch in the living room of her family's house, feet propped up comfortably on the other end of the furniture at the armrest. She had a book in her hand, relaxingly reading a book spun off about Alice in Wonderland. She normally hated to read, but ever since she first watched Alice in Wonderland back in the early 90's when she was a little girl, she was enamored with the old story and anything relating to it. She even started listening to Alice in Chains just because the band had "Alice" in its name. Eventually, her quiet, peaceful solitude was interrupted by her older twenty-one-year-old brother, Justin, coming up the stairs to meet her eyes with his.

"Wow, you're actually reading?" he somewhat teasingly asked, but was very much intrigued at the same time. Alex just glared at him, very much annoyed, with her narrowed eyes drilling holes through her eldest brother.

"It's related to Alice in Wonderland, douche bag," she spat at him. Justin chuckled and headed towards the other way of the room.

"Right, should have known," he responded, already far away enough from his younger sister to where his voice sounded like an echo. Alex upsettingly rolled her eyes, but nevertheless continued to her book. She hated it when people didn't take her as an "intelligent" person, and Justin was the worst at it. She wasn't going to let it get to her personal enjoyment, though. Soon enough Justin was gone from the floor of the apartment, and sure enough in came her other sibling, her younger brother Max at the age of sixteen. He was a lot easier on his sister than his brother was, though.

"Hey 'Lexi, what'cha doing?" he innocently asked, not bothering to ask permission to sit on the couch with her as he lifted her ankles up so that he could sit down, laying them back over him. Alex was used to his attitude by now of course, not minding the harmless nickname he picked out for her. She kind of thought it was sweet, but it was one of those thoughts that she preferred to keep to herself.

"Reading a book, twerp. What does it look like I'm doing?" she asked, not bothering to take her eyes off of her almost finished book, but had a playful smirk on her face in case Max turned his eyes to her to show that she was playing around.

"Oh, right…" he said, feeling pretty dumbfounded.

"Isn't it your turn to help out with the shop downstairs with Mom and Dad?" Alex asked as she suddenly remembered, this time looking up at her younger brother. Max just shrugged, randomly massaging his sister's ankles.

"It got pretty boring… I mean, I would have stayed, but this cute girl came in and-"

"It made you feel lonely and you asked Mom or Dad if you could get off early?" Alex interrupted. She knew all too well of her younger brother's problems with girls just by observing over the past few years after he hit puberty.

"…Yeah," was all he could muster to say, looking to his left away from his sister somewhat in embarrassment, his hands still rested on her ankles. Alex couldn't help but to feel sorry for him. Even their nerdy brother Justin had better luck with the girls than Max.

"We've got to help you get enough confidence to ask a girl out instead of running away every time and feeling miserable like this," she told him. She didn't normally show much concern to her brother's non-too-serious problems, but she had a soft spot for Max's dilemma in this case.

"I don't know Alex, I'm not exactly popular or one of the beautiful people like you or Justin," he depressingly said softly, eyeing down. Alex chuckled and raised an eyebrow.

"Justin? One of the beautiful people?" she chucked again before letting out a tiny giggle. Max blushed hearing her giggle.

"Well, the girl's seem to like him a lot more than me, and don't get me started on you and the boys…"

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" she asked him, closing her book. She felt kind of offended as if Max had just called her easy. "And Justin only gets girls because he actually _talks to them._" Max paled a bit, getting that his sister took what he said the way he didn't intend for her to.

"I didn't mean it like that, 'Lexi," he said, looking at her genuinely with a sorrowful expression. Alex smiled at him reassuringly, which was rare of her, and just ran her hand through his hair a couple times.

"It's fine. So come on, get your shoes on and come with me," she told him as she swung her legs off of him, slipping her feet into her punk-rock black and pink boots with a skull design on the side. Max bit his lower lip and raised an eyebrow at her.

"Where are we going?" he asked.

"To the mall, duh; big sis is going to help you get a date."

**End Chapter**


	2. The Mall

**Chapter 2**

"What about that one? She's cute," Alex asked her younger brother as the two sat at a table together in a coffee shop at the mall, eyeing around girls for Max.

"Yeah, she is… I don't think I should say anything," he nervously said, blushing deeply. His eyes were glued on the leggy blonde that was walking down the hall outside of the coffee shop, and Alex was noticing it.

"Come on Max, we've been here for thirty minutes and you haven't spoken to a single chick." Max turned his eyes away from the disappearing blonde beauty outside the shop and to his sister.

"Not true, I've been talking to you, haven't I?" Alex crossed her arms and gave him a look.

"Your sister doesn't count." Max propped his head up on his hands with his elbows on the table, eyeing down miserably. Then a thought came into his mind.

"What about you? I haven't seen you speak to any guys," he said matter-of-factly. Alex scoffed but blushed a little none the less.

"We're here for you, not me. Besides, I'm not looking for a date or any kind of relationship right now." Max raised his eyes up to meet his sister's.

"Dean and Mason must've really messed you up." Alex gritted her teeth at this.

"Change the subject; I don't want to talk about them. I'm trying to do something nice for you here," she said, a little sincerely hurt. Of course Max picked up on his screw up and noticed that he had hurt his sister's feelings twice in the same day, a day where she was uncharacteristically being somewhat kind to him.

"I'm sorry; I shouldn't have brought them up. I love you, 'Lexi," he told her with as much genuine feeling that he could muster. He rarely told his sister that he loved her, but that wasn't common for any of the three siblings. It was just Max's way of showing he was completely being sincere. Alex couldn't help but to break out of her shell and give him a loving glance.

"Don't worry about it, 'Maxi. Love you too," she told him, using a very rare nickname she'd only call her brother playfully when she would get a tad tipsy. This was probably the first time that she had called him that sober, in fact. Nonetheless, it was harder for her to say that she loved one of her brothers, and she could hardly spit that out. But it was as sincere as what Max had said to her.

"Hey, I honestly don't really feel like looking for a girl right now," Max spoke up. "I'd uh," he stuttered his words, trying to think carefully on how to say it. "I mean, if you want, I have some saved up cash in my pocket. We could go to the theater in here and see what's on?" he asked, doing his best to hide his blush. He hated the embarrassment of not having enough courage to find a girl, and the "bonding" with Alex was feeling pretty nice anyway. Alex showed a surprised expression, then eyed down at the table with her legs crossed.

"Um, yeah, I guess if that's what you want… are you sure you want to spend your money for that?" she checked, not really understanding why Max would want to spend his hard earned cash from the sub shop on the two of them for a fun bonding experience.

"Yeah, why not?" he told her, getting up from his seat and reaching into his pocket, planting a simple two-dollar tip on the table and heading towards the exit. "You coming?" Alex was a little dumbfounded; she usually had to talk her brothers into leaving a tip, but this was the first time one of them had actually done it without being asked or begged. She grabbed her purse and followed her younger brother out of the store, the two heading to the escalator to reach the theater.

"You've got a birthday coming up soon, right?" Alex asked as the two slowly transcended down the escalator.

"The 5th of July, yeah. Thanks for remembering," he somewhat playfully said. Alex scoffed and gently elbowed him in the shoulder.

"I can hardly remember my own birthday, smartass. What do you want this year?" she asked. Max raised an eyebrow at her as they reached the bottom floor.

"You mean you're actually going to get me something?" he asked in all seriousness, which Alex picked up on.

"I had planned on it," she told him just as they had reached the movie theater. Their conversation was cut short as Max approached the ticket booth, giving the pimply ginger haired worker sixteen dollars for two tickets. Max wanted to blush and bite his lip; the worker seemed jealous that he was out with a cute girl like his sister. Got the wrong idea he guessed. Still, Alex would never be interested in a guy like _that._ Eh, why would he care?

"I'll pay for the popcorn and drinks, and whatever else you want to snack on," Alex offered as they reached the concession stand. Max smiled cutely, feeling kind of appreciative of his sister offering to pay some out of her own pocket. But, he wanted to step up and pay for everything for once.

"Don't worry, I got it." Alex gave him a questioning look as if checking to make sure he was sure, which was answered with a soft pat on her shoulder. She smiled softly, a bit weakly maybe, before turning to make her way to the auditorium.

"Want a snack?" Max somewhat hollered to quickly grab his sister's attention. She turned her head at him and thought for a minute.

"One of those nerd ropes if they still sale those things if you don't mind," she said with a bit of a stronger smile this time, happily going in to find a good seat for the two of them. Soon Max arrived with his arms full of junk food and a tray of two sodas.

"This is harder than it already looks," he told her, setting the snacks down in a seat beside of Alex before sitting down to the seat over.

"I didn't think to ask if you needed help. Why didn't you ask me?" Alex questioned. Max simply shrugged and gave her a playful grin before taking a handful of popcorn and ramming it in his mouth. Alex chuckled right before some murder-mystery type movie started. The two sat in their respective seats silently, occasionally reaching into the popcorn bag between them. There were hardly anyone else in the theater; they had gotten good seats at the top row for a good view. Soon enough after Alex was finished with her Willy Wonka Nerd's Rope, she reached in the popcorn bag only to find her hand grabbing onto her brother's. It took only a second before the awkward blast shot them both in the face. Alex, being the more outspoken and braver of the two, was naturally the first one to address it.

"Well, hello there," she says with a bit of a fun grin, patting her fingers on her brother's hand inside of the popcorn bag jokingly. Max was feeling all kinds of emotions and just bit his lower lip hard, blinking tightly.

"Eh, sorry…" he said, pulling his popcorn-less hand out from under his sister's and out of the bag, eyeing up at the screen to keep his mind straight. Alex mildly blushed, feeling stupid as she could tell she unintentionally embarrassed Max.

"It wasn't anything to be sorry about; we just reached in the bag at the same time. What, too manly to hold your sister's hand?" She says the last part out of her antagonizing playful instinct, soon regretting that she's just embarrassing him even more and thinking to herself, 'Ah, shit.'

"No…" he quickly replies. He suddenly was overcome with challenging her to her "accusation", reaching over the seat between them to cup her right hand in his left one. Alex eyed down at their hands, then back up to meet her younger brother's. "See? Doesn't bother me any," he says with a hint of pride in his voice, grinning with his lips hiding his teeth. Alex rolled her eyes but got some sort of relief feeling that she hadn't bugged him too bad. Their hands didn't seem to separate, both now into the movie to really feel any sense of awkwardness. It was as if they didn't even notice that they were still holding hands, until the movie ended and it was time to make their way out.

"Uh, that was a cool flick…" Max said while they made their exit through only the little few in the theater, keeping his eyes away from Alex out of uneasiness and embarrassment. Alex was doing the same somewhat.

"Yeah, I didn't mind it," she says casually, running her fingers through her short brunette hair, looking around the mall. The noise from the crowd of people in the building was loud and sounded almost deafening compared to the subtle theater.

"Are you ready to head home?" Max asked, finally looking at his sister. Alex shared his eye contact after seeing him turn his head to look at her.

"If you want," she replied.

And so the two headed home, walking side by side with the only words being shared being about the film they had just saw together.

**End Chapter**


	3. Awkward Beauty

**Chapter 3**

Merry Christmas!

**Authors Note: So, I'm not very good with keeping updates frequent or keeping chapter's long due to lack of ambition.**

"I had a good time, thank you," Max said to his sister as they approached their doorstep. Alex looked back at him seeing as she was in front and gave him a genuine smile.

"So did I, little brother. We'll get you a chick sooner or later, don't worry about it," she tells him with a giggle before using her keys to open the door. "You just have to grow some self-esteem and stop being so awkward." Max bit his lower lip in slight frustration, but deep down he knew she was right.

'I thought she was about to tell me to grow a pair of balls,' he thought as he entered into the Loft behind his sister, who nonchalantly kicked her shoes off by the door. "Well, I'm going up to my room. Thanks again for uh, hanging out with me I guess," she tells him, chuckling at her own awkward behavior before moving up the stairs to her room. Max was smiling warmly and content as he kicked his sneakers off next to his sister's shoes, plopping down on the couch for a long nap. When he finally woke up from his peaceful rest, he eyed over towards the clock on the piece of furniture beside the television stand.

'Shit… 8:30, I'm going to be up for awhile tonight,' he thought before noticing his horrible urge to urinate. "Fuck," he said with a groan, forcing himself lazily to get off of the couch and slowly make his way to the upstairs bathroom that the siblings shared. Right as he was about to open the door, it opened for him, busting him right in the face. He could hear something crack.

"Fuck!" he said as a loud thump was heard as he stumbled backwards against the wall, holding his nose. He heard his sister gasp while blood trickled out of his nostrils down his hand.

"Oh my God, Max! Are you okay?" Alex said as she kneeled down to her younger brother, moving his hand away from his busted nose to get a better look at the damage she unintentionally dealt. "Oh God, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" Max grunted for a moment before wiping the blood away from his upper lip that fell from his nose, not bothering to touch it. He figured it was broken.

"Shit… ah, it's fine, Al…Alex…" he said, stuttering his sister's name as he noticed that she was covered up in only a towel wrapped around her body and another holding up her hair. Now not only was his nose red from the blood, but his cheeks were even redder from an awkward blush he couldn't hold back. Alex stared at him confusingly, not even having a clue that he was taken aback by her lack of clothing.

"What is it?" she asked, still checking out his nose, her big sister instincts kicking in as her hand roamed through his hair in attempt to comfort her brother. She rarely showed compassion to anyone, but pitiful cases like this just seemed to change her tune.

"Not bad…" Max said without thinking. Alex blinked for a minute, before realizing she was only covered in a towel and quickly made her way back up to her feet. She was too taken aback by what he had just said to even think of anything to say back. Max mentally scolded himself and felt his blood run cold in embarrassment before turning his head and covering the side with his hand. "Uh, I'm not looking… but I really I have to use the bathroom," he mentions as he slides past her and shuts the bathroom door close that had just whacked him in the face a mere few seconds earlier. Not knowing what to even think, Alex made her way back to her room to get dressed, having a blush of her own stain her cheeks.

"I'm a fucking moron," Max said to himself as he zipped up his jeans and flushed the toilet. He looked into the mirror to survey the damage. His nose looked a little bent and bloody, so he used what knowledge he had of first aid and poured water over some toilet paper before holding it up against his nose, red staining the white fabric. Before he could even leave the bathroom, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. With a sigh he reached in with his free hand that wasn't holding up the wet toilet paper against his nose and pulled out his phone. He had received a text message from Alex.

"Are you okay?" was all it read. Not being able to text with only one hand, Max pushed his phone back into his pocket and made his way to his sister's room, all the while wondering how nobody else in the house heard the door bash against him earlier, but just shook the thought away as he stopped caring nearly the moment it came up into his mind. Soon, Alex could hear a knock from her door.

"Who is it?" she asked only loud enough for the person outside to hear her.

"Max," he responded, still holding the damp bloody toilet paper against his nose. Alex bit her bottom lip, still thinking about that awkward flirtatious comment her younger brother had said to her earlier.

"Come in," she replied. Max used his free hand to turn the knob and walk through, with Alex eyeballing his hand over his nose while Max tried to keep his eyes away from his sister's nightwear, desperately trying to not find the simple black t-shirt and red shorts she wore to be cute. "Uh, I'm sorry about your nose… are you alright?" Was all she could think of to say, raising an eyebrow at the wet toilet paper he held against him.

"I've had worse when that baseball nailed me a few months back. I'll live," he reassured. "I couldn't really reply your text so I decided to just come see you. Hope you don't mind." Alex gave him a half smile as she put her bare feet down on her carpeted floor and took Max by the hand, leading him to sit down on her chair near her desk so she could look at his nose.

"Nah, it's cool. I still feel kind of bad about it, though. Hold still," she told her brother, moving the wet tissue paper out of his hand and into the trash can, wiping away from fresh blood from his smooth upper lip with her thumb. "You should go tell mom or dad and get a doctor to check this out," she advised. Max sighed and placed his chin in his palm and his elbow on her desk.

"It'll be fine and heal up on its own, no need to see a doctor or anything… I'll just have to be careful when I sleep… which won't be for awhile, sadl- ow!" He yelped in pain as Alex moved her finger against his nose.

"Yep, it's broken. I'm the worst sibling ever." Max grunted and shot her a glare.

"You will be if you keep touching it," he told her as he looked around her room. "You move your stuff around again?" he asked. Alex was known to move furniture, such as her bed and television around in her room out of boredom.

"Yeah, like how it looks?" she asked him, turning her back to carelessly fall back comfortably on her bed, feeling tired as she let a yawn flow out.

"Pretty sure it looks the same way you had it about two weeks ago, but yeah, it's cool," Max tells her as he steps up from her desk chair, just standing there for a minute and looking down at the carpet. Alex scoffed but then rose her head up at him after a few moments of silence, which Max noticed. "Listen, about earlier, uh," he started, but just kept stuttering anything else he was trying to say, not being able to find a way to make this situation any less awkward from his flirt to his sister that had just blurted out. Alex saw him struggle with his words, seeing him blush the way he was and felt sincerely sorry for him.

"Hey, at least you're getting more confident. Just try it out with someone else next time and not your sister," she said playfully with a giggle, being able to accomplish what Max was trying to. He chuckled as he felt a bit of awkward weight being lift from his shoulders.

"Well, yeah, I guess so. Still feel pretty stupid over it." Alex rose her body back up into a sitting position at the edge of the bed.

"Don't be, I guess I should be flattered than even you think I'm pretty," she said with a chuckle of her own. Max bit down against his teeth and eyed at the carpet some more, keeping a slight smile over his face.

"Of course you're pretty," he muttered. Alex blushed for a moment. "Anyway, I just came to… let you know I'm okay. I'm going to go hang out in my room or something," he told her as he turned to head out the bedroom door.

"If you say so," she says, suddenly thinking of something characteristically fun to say to tease her younger sibling. "Try not to blister yourself tonight!" she shouts with a smile, causing Max to crack a grin and shoot her the bird.

**End Chapter**


	4. Running Errands

**Chapter 4**

**Author's Note: Reviews keep the writing machine full of gas.**

Every member of the Russo family was currently home at the apartment. The father, Jerry was in the family Sub shop calculating sales over the past week while the mother Theresa were in their bedroom relaxing on the bed and reading a book. Justin was in his room studying about something for his planned College class and Alex was sitting in the loft playing her pink Nintendo 3DS, solving little brain-teaser puzzles to make the time pass by. Her friends, or rather only _friend_, Harper, hadn't been around to hang out lately for whatever reason so she had been forced to hang around home and her family, not that she really minded; they were just boring, although she had to admit the past couple of days with Max had been quite interesting and far from bland. Max was in his room like a sloth hanging about depressingly, thinking back to yesterday as his miniature fan soothingly blew him in the face, causing his hair to go back slightly.

"Damn, she looked hot," he silently told himself as he couldn't stop thinking back to when he saw Alex in just a towel around her body right after coming out of the shower. He did his best to forget his stupid flirtatious comment he made about it even though she had assured him not to think anything of it, but it still embarrassed him. It also bothered him slightly to know that he found his sister to be very attractive, but he was comfortable with himself and his feelings more-so than your average person. It didn't bother him the way it would someone else, but still. It felt weird thinking that way about his own flesh and blood and made him feel even more pathetic about his love life.

Suddenly, a knock was heard!

"Who is it?" Max asked, turning his head backwards to the door as his back was facing it on the bed.

"It's your mother, open up mijo!" Theresa spoke. It annoyed Max when she spoke in Spanish. They did live in America, not Mexico or some other over-the-border country. Again, that was just the way his mind operated.

"Yeah, come on in," the young man told his mother while reverting back to his usual stance of his elbows propped on his knees and his face staring down at the floor like a broken man… being depressed and lonely sucked major ass.

"Max, would you and one of your siblings mind running to the grocery store for your father and I?" Theresa asked her son, holding out a list. "And stop looking so depressed, you're too handsome to be sad!" the mother spoke trying to cheer her son up. She was always the best at telling if something was wrong with any of the three Russo siblings, although with Max it was incredibly easy with how repetitive his depression has been for the past year or so growing up.

"Uh yeah, sure Mom… and I'll try to cheer up, sorry," he spoke to her as he stood up, going to put his sneakers over his feet.

"No need to be sorry, mijo. I just hate seeing any of my babies upset." Max winced at being called a baby, but he understood seeing as it was coming from his mother.

"Do you have a preference on who you want to tag along with me?" he asked her, now standing up with his MP3 player in his pocket with ear buds tucked in and ready to leave.

"Well I think it would be better if you took Alex, Justin is busy in his room studying for his future classes."

'Of course,' Max thought. "Okay, I'll run down to the loft and grab her. Love you mom," he says as he gives his mother a hug and a peck on the cheek before exiting his room with Theresa making her way back to her own.

"This game is so stupid," Alex spoke seemingly to herself as she closed her handheld, right before feeling a hand latch onto her shoulder, causing her to jolt in surprise and turn her head around to see who had touched her from behind the couch. "Max! What the hell! You nearly gave me a heart attack!" she exclaimed, eyeing her younger brother angrily. Max gave her a sheepish grin and chuckle, running his fingers through the back of his black hair.

"Surprised you, eh?" he asked still standing behind the couch as he looked down at Alex who was just now calming down

"No shit," she responded, moving back to get comfortable on the couch only for Max to speak up for her to get up.

"I need you to go with me to get some groceries for Mom and Pops. Mom said specifically to get you to come with me since Justin is busy with his all mighty schoolwork." Alex scoffed in annoyance before getting up to her feet, moving to slide her sandals on.

"For fuck's sake, you're seventeen-years-old, why do you need one of us to go with you anyway?" Alex seemed annoyed but she couldn't really blame Max, it was their mother who was dragging her along with him since God forbid the golden child has any chores. Max was used to it enough to not pay it any mind. It kind of made him sparkle a bit inside to see her so ruffled up. It was… cute.

"I don't know, but gotta do what the big Momma says, right? Besides, no license," he tells her with a slight rough pat on her back and a large grin, causing her to almost stumble as Max made his way to the door.

"Whatever, let's just go. I was getting bored being stuck inside anyway." Soon the two made their way to their mother's car, the keys in Alex's hands being slid into the ignition with Max sitting in the passenger's seat with both of them buckled up safely.

"You got a list of what we're getting?" Alex asks as she slides on a pair of sunglasses from out of her purse, causing Max to turn his head to her.

'Damn, she looks good in everything,' Max thought to himself while shifting his head back straight away from his sister. "Here," he says as he reaches into his front pocket and hands her the grocery list along with his music player and ear buds, placing them inside his ears while his sister takes the list.. Alex takes a look and then the two begin to drive off after she stuffs the list into her purse. Halfway to the store, Alex spoke up about a sensitive subject out of nowhere.

"So you thought I looked pretty hot in just a towel, eh?" she asks Max, her eyes focused on the road. Max's complexion faded as he blushed deeply and his heart skipped a beat. He just had to have his music on pause right at the moment for her to say that to where he could hear.

'The fuck, Alex!' He thought. "Sure. It's not like you're ugly, so what about it?" he replied, nervously looking out of his window and wanting to blast his music back on so he could hide away in his little world inside of his head. Alex grinned smoothly while making a turn.

"You totally have the hots for your sister," she says with an innocent but teasing chuckle. Max turned his eyes to give her a death glare, but his blush remained on his cheeks.

"I'm not that weird," Max says with a bit of an impish smirk aimed at his sister

"Uh-huh. So what are you listening to?" she asks. Max leans his head back against the headrest of his passenger's seat and tries to relax.

"A cover of Another Brick in the Wall by Korn," he tells her, just deciding to pull his ear buds out of his ears seeing as Alex was going to talk through all the way to the store. She chuckled as they got halfway to their destination.

"I didn't know you were into that kind of stuff, let alone Pink Floyd or Korn."

"You don't really know much about me. We hardly ever talk or hang out," Max pointed out, making his sister want to turn her head to him in a bit of sadness if not for having to keep her eyes on the road.

"So not true, I took you to the mall just yesterday! You even said you had fun," she tells him as they near the grocery store. Max turns his MP3 player off and hides it in the glove department.

"Which was pretty shocking to me, but yeah, you did and I appreciate it. What I said is still true though, we hardly ever hang out enough for us to really know much about the other," he points out as Alex turns in the parking lot and takes a careful amount of time to back into a space.

"Know enough that you have the hots for me," she teased him again, turning her sunglass covered face to him with the most beautiful playful grin Max thought he ever saw. He took a gulp as his nerves started acting up on him and blushed, making his older sister giggle. "Oh my God, you really do like me don't you?" she says with a bit of a laugh. Max turns his head away and quickly undoes his seatbelt, getting out of the car. "Oh come on, don't be so bashful," Alex says as she gets out and walks behind him towards the store, a playful smile plastered across her face.

"I don't want to talk about this, it's weird," he said in the calmest way he could even though she was starting to embarrass and unsettle him. Alex would admit that it was weird for her too knowing that he thinks she's attractive, but she also liked poking fun and found it flattering too. It wasn't so bad.

"It's you, Max. Come on. Nothing's weird when it comes to you."

"Thanks." He tells her sarcastically, now a little mad along with the other bothersome emotions he had going on for him as the young powerless wizard pulled out a shopping cart. Alex sighed.

"Please don't get all upset. You know I don't mean anything by it," she told him sincerely as she crossed her arms over her chest with the grocery list in her right hand. "If it means anything, compared to Dead and Mason you'd be a complete catch if you were a little older and, you know, not my baby brother." Max stopped the cart at the aisle with bread and fruit to look back at her to say something in a very soft, serious but playful tone at once.

"And all this time I thought that compared to the guys you've been with I was just another brick in the wall," he says using a line from the song he was listening to just minutes before. Alex scoffs at him and pats him on the back.

"You've really got to raise your self esteem." Max raised an eyebrow and grit his teeth. Alex was now a bit in front of him, and he got a clear shot at her backside.

'Don't know if this is having self esteem, over confidence or just stupid, but I'll show you. Here goes nothing,' he thinks before smacking his sister on the ass where all of the other shoppers could see, causing her to cutely yelp and drop the grocery list.

"Max! What the hell!" she spat at him quietly but furiously at once, narrowing her eyes at him and looking around the store to see if anyone had seen. Some old people were staring, but turned their eyes when they caught Alex looking back at him.

"There's your self esteem," he tells her with a sly grin. Alex angrily placed her front and bottom teeth together before squatting down in front of him to pick up the list.

"Just keep your hands to yourself, pervert. First thing on the list is a loaf of bread," she says, grabbing the brand that she's most familiar with her family using. An hour later of awkward silence with little conversation, the two siblings paid for the groceries using their mother's credit card as Max pushed the cart out to the car.

"Can you please not ever, _ever_ do something like that in public again?" she asks as she buckled up, but Max knew it was more of a demand.

"Oh, so it's fine if I do it in the privacy of our own home?" Max says with a chuckle, putting groceries away at the back of the car before leaving the cart in the parking lot and hopping in the passenger's seat. Alex rolled her eyes.

"Poor choice of words on my end… you know what I meant," she told him as she turns on the ignition. Max scoffs and tries to play it off.

"Don't flatter yourself; I only did it to get a reaction and to embarrass you," he told her almost with bitter venom in his voice. He felt kind of stupid over it.

"Uh-uh, sure," and soon the two arrived back at home

**End Chapter**.


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